Motion to Surrender
If you have an outstanding warrant for your arrest, your attorney might be able to file a motion to surrender. If the court agrees to schedule a hearing on the motion to surrender, you will accompany your attorney into the courtroom to address the outstanding arrest warrant.
Filing a motion to surrender is not appropriate in all cases because the court might refuse to set it for a hearing. The criminal defense attorney you hire should understand the court’s preferences when addressing outstanding warrants.
The main advantage of filing a motion to surrender is that it allows the court to set the bail and pre-trial release conditions in a case that might otherwise require you to sit in jail waiting for the first appearance hearing.
By filing a motion to surrender, the court can also recall or quash a bench warrant or capias because you missed a court date or for some other reason.
The court might also recall or quash the warrant if it was entered in error or because of an accident or mistake. If your warrant was issued by mistake, your attorney might also file a “motion to quash.”
The rules for filing a motion to surrender differ based on what type of arrest warrant exists. For example, Florida has at least eight (8) different types of arrest warrants, including:
- The probable cause arrest warrant for a felony;
- A bench warrant for failure to appear in court (also known as a capias) after a formal arrest or the issuance of a notice to appear;
- Direct capias in the form of a writ prepared by the Clerk of Circuit Court;
- Direct file arrest warrant issued by the State Attorney’s Office with a finding of probable cause;
- An arrest warrant issued by the court after an alleged probation violation;
- a Pick Up Order (PUO or order to take a juvenile into custody) issued by a judge in juvenile court;
- an Out of State warrant (also known as the fugitive from justice warrant); or
- an Out of County transfer warrant (being held in Hillsborough County, FL, while awaiting transport to another county in Florida).
The rules for each type of warrant are different. Judges and prosecutors also have different preferences when dealing with every kind of warrant, which might differ from one office or courtroom to another.
Attorney for Motion to Surrender in Tampa, FL
If you have an outstanding warrant in Tampa or Hillsborough County, or the surrounding counties in the Tampa Bay area, contact a criminal defense attorney at Sammis Law Firm.
We can help you confirm whether the warrant exists and the best ways to surrender on the warrant. We can accompany you to court to advocate for the best pre-trial release conditions, saving you stress and aggravation.
If you have a bench warrant, failure to appear warrant, direct capias, direct file warrant, probation violation warrant, or juvenile court pickup order, call us to discuss the case.
Call 813-250-0500.
This article was last updated on Friday, November 8, 2024.